Pel the 6th Level Rogue gets a tad more badass
While most of my gaming mastery is with GURPS, I also do play Pathfinder once a week or so. I’m in two campaigns, one run by +Jeromy French (Skull and Shackles) and the other by +kung fu hillbilly (home brew, I think).
The recently released “errata” for Pathfinder goes beyond the typical SJG definition of errata, and actually makes some rules changes, from what I understand. This thread, for example, discusses some rules changes (or reversals of previous changes) that occurred to the Monk character class.
In any case, over at HeroSheets, they discuss a rules tweak to Stealth, which allows a Rogue to nail you with his sneak attack when he shoots from a stealthed position, rather than, I think, only from the flanks.
-(copied and pasted from HeroSheets)
I like it. Pel has had a couple good occasions to do this in the past, and the extra 3d6 he gets, and the new +4 from Deadly Aim, means that a successful stealthy bow shot can deliver something like 4d6+5 damage, which is a wonderful “oh, yeah” moment; especially with Rapid Shot turned on for two such attacks.
I’m outed from stealth after the attack is over (or maybe I only get the bonus for the first of the two attacks, we’ll see what the GM says), but overall, this says that if you can nail someone from stealth, you can take the proper time to Legolas him through the skull.
Again: I like it.
It clearly states that if your opponent is unaware of you, they lose their Dex bonus to AC. Under Sneak Attack, it says, that if your opponent is denied a Dex bonus, you can Sneak Attack as long as your opponent isn't concealed in any way. So basically, you have always been able to Sneak Attack with Stealth in Pathfinder, because these rules weren't changed in this printing. People just really focused on it with this update. And it really isn't clearly spelled out. You have to look at the description of AC under Dexterity, Sneak Attack under Rogue, and the Stealth skill to see the change of events which I hadn't done until today.
What they did do with this update is allow Rogues to move around the battlefield with Stealth to get to better positions without massive penalties. Which I think is a great improvement.
Yeah, the problem was always with stealth requiring either cover or concealment. If the rules now allow you to move from one place of concealment to another without breaking stealth (opposed rolls allowing) then that is a welcome clarification.
Sniping has always been a possibility and has had its -20 penalty to stealth since 3.0 (IIRC).
Two important things the above rules fail to mention though are:
1) The very important – to a sniper – 30' range limitation for sneak attacks; "Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet."
2) You have to both be able to reach a soft spot (mostly a melee consideration, but not one I've ever enforced), and have a clear view, so concealment of any kind (even a humble Blur spell or dim lighting for rogues without darkvision) and you can't sneak attack; "The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment."